Homura is first seen by Madoka in a dream of her fighting a monster in a desolate landscape of skyscrapers. The day after the dream, Homura has transferred to Madoka's school where she gives her ominous warnings.

Official Info

"With kindness comes naïveté. Courage becomes foolhardiness. And dedication has no reward. If you can't accept any of that, you are not fit to be a Puella Magi." ~ Homura Akemi, Episode 5.

A smart, graceful, athletically-talented girl. Cool if not chilly, her personality even can even be seen in her posture. Her primary ability is to stop time, all her other abilities and attacks seem to come from non-magical items, such as firearms and bombs. Her time manipulation device can also allow her to travel back in time, act as a shield, and seems to act as a limitless storage facility.

She seems to be a magical girl, but there are a lot of mysteries surrounding the way she acts. Her fighting style is also unidentified.

Ms. Aoki’s Design Check: A blunt girl. I tried to let this shine through in her design. Her distinguishing point is her silky long hair.

Magical girl outfit: Homura was designed with her personality and combat style in mind. I found her fascinating right away. (Aoki)

The sharp lines of her upper back and jacket evoke her personality. Overall rather monochromatic. Her black tights have a diamond pattern.

School uniform: She wears black tights in uniform too, leaving her overall feel just like in her magical girl outfit. She gives off the air of a silent beauty.

According to the Blu-ray episode 2 voice commentary, Ume Aoki found Homura to be the most difficult to come up with an image color but one of the easier ones for character design.

Regardless of her reasons, Homura'a priority is preventing Madoka from becoming a Mahou Shoujo. Since that is not understandable by other Mahou Shoujos or Madoka, she decided to act alone.

Homura is a magical girl from another timeline, as revealed by Kyubey. She knows that Kyubey is behind a sinister plot, and it mostly involves Madoka turning into a magical girl.

Homura's special ability is revealed to be some kind of time-travel, which explains why she knows so much to the point of knowing exactly when and where certain things will happen. This also may be why she can move at blistering speed.

In episode 9, it was revealed that Homura can stop time. However, anyone she touches while the ability is under effect will not be stopped.

According to an interview in Otona Anime Vol. 20, translated by symbv, here is what Gen Urobuchi said on more of Homura's power: "The weapon that looks like Homura's shield is actually a sand timer. When the flow of the sand is blocked, time is stopped. And when there is no sand on the upper part of the sand timer and then the timer is reverted, one month's worth of time is turned back. But before that stage is reached, only time stopping is possible. This means the special power of Homura is the ability to manipulate one month's time's worth of sand in the sand timer. As for the time passed and then turned back, since it was not the focus in this work I did not think it through very thoroughly. I think you can say that the world split up and became parallel worlds there." In episode 11, we see Homura's sand run out in the middle of her fight with Walpurgisnacht, verifying this limitation of her time stop powers.

Homura's backstory was revealed in episode 10. She was a transfer student who was recovering from heart disease. Probably due to her lack of confidence, she was targeted by familiars. However, Madoka (who was a Puella Magi at this time) and Mami save her. During Walpurgis Night, Madoka and Mami die. Homura then makes the wish to re-do her meeting with Madoka to prevent her fate.

Along with stopping time, Homura can also reverse time to before her meeting with Madoka.

Homura, while initially ditzy and insecure, has become very independent and strong during her time traveling. Her cold nature is from her determination to save Madoka after having failed in her mission to prevent Madoka from becoming a magical girl several times.

A previous Madoka was the one to task Homura to prevent Madoka from becoming a Puella Magi.

In the current timeline, Homura fails to stop Walpurgis Night. However, since Homura somewhat confessed to Madoka to the time traveling, Madoka creates a new wish to make sure that Homura's efforts weren't in vain.

Homura is the only one that remembers Madoka in the newest timeline. Also, she gains a bow and magical wings. Whether her time-stopping ability remains is unknown.

In the ending, Homura faces off with many demons in a desert. However, her wings become distorted like the barriers of witches. What happens to her is unknown.

Trivia

And so a legend was born

Homura is frequently referred to as "Homerun-chan" amongst Western fans, due to the similarity of the two names in Japanese, however she is frequently referred as "Homuhomu" (ほむほむ) within Japanese community. Homuhomu likely originated from the runes in Episode 3, one of which translates to "Homuhomu".

"Homuhomu" can be used as a verb as "do Homuhomu" (ほむほむする) which means to caress, console or take care of. The action of "do Homuhomu" is not defined exactly.

The first character for Akemi (暁) means "daybreak", while the second one (美) means beauty which is a famous letter in girl's name.

When her full name is written vertically in hiragana (あけみほむら) and covering the left half at a certain angle, it could be read as カナメまどか which is Kaname written in katakana and Madoka written in hiragana.

Her last name can also be used as a first name.

In an early production sketch, her surname was given as (暁海) "daybreak sea" instead of (暁美). Both are read as Akemi.

Her first name is written in hiragana, which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji, it can mean:

inflammation, blaze (炎 or 焔)

heart on fire (心火)

mass of flame (炎叢)

village protector (保村)

Though only 焔, 炎, and 心火 are actually Japanese given names. The name 'Homura' can also be written the following ways as a given name:

Some folks in 2ch nicknamed Homura's Residence Homu-home (ほむホーム,Homuhōmu) since Homu is a nickname for Homura, and Hōmu is "home" rendered in the Japanese syllabary. It should be noted that "homu" is more often used for dog houses and similar structures, with the English word "home" expressed using "uchi" (うち, which refers to one's own house or household), "ie" (いえ, which can refer to a physical house or a family lineage), or the honorific "otaku" (お宅, which refers to someone else's house or household).

The Homura of previous timelines is, due to her personality and actions, often referred to as "Moemura" amongst Western fans.

Apparently there is a rumor on the net that some weapons went "missing" at the JSDF and US military bases in Japan. There is only one official report regarding the missing/stolen weapons. It is not known if the rumors of the stolen missing weapons inspired their appearance in the series. Nor is there any evidence indicating that the perpetrator was a time traveling magical girl.

Homura's appearance in episode 12 (in the new timeline) from the manga is different than her appearance from the anime. In the anime, her clothes and hairstyle remain the same, with Madoka's ribbon as her accessories. However, in the manga, she wears a new dress, changes her hairstyle to two pigtails with the ribbons Madoka gave her.

In BD commentary for episode 4, Urobuchi liked Chiwa Saitou for the role because she had a "Dark Beauty" feeling.

Observations

"Kaname Madoka, do you value your life? Do you think that your family and friends are important to you?" "If they are, then you should never think of changing yourself. Otherwise, you will lose everything that is precious to you." ~ Homura Akemi in Episode 1.

As of Episode 10, it is shown that Homura used to be a very shy and clumsy girl before she became a Puella Magi. Homura met Madoka and Mami when they were saving Homura from a witch, thus the three became friends. At the very end of that timeline, Madoka is killed and Homura asks Kyubey to turn her into a Puella Magi with her wish being "to meet Madoka again, but this time as the one protecting her, not as the one being protected".

She appears to live by herself; her residence only has her name on the nameplate, much like Mami's. In episode 10, when she wakes up in the hospital, no-one is there with her, and she seems to have been filling out the school transfer forms on her own.

She seem to have met Kyubey before, as she refers to him as "Incubator" in Episode 8 shortly after he was shot down by her. She also reveals to "know his true motives".

Her cold attitude was formed through re-living the same timeline multiple times, with the ending always being that Madoka either turned into a witch or died. When that happens, Homura turns back time to the first day of her arrival again.

When Mami asks Homura if she has any other power besides bending time in Episode 10, Homura steals guns, swords etc. from a locker. She hides these weapons inside her shield.

Homura calls everyone by their full name, giving the impression of being distant to people. This is most likely an attempt of her part to distance herself emotionally with everyone.

In Episode 10, Moemura goes from formal to first name basis with Madoka.

Speculations

The theories below have been proven right.At least one element from the franchise is rendering them valid.

In the first two episodes, Homura appeared to be the antagonist. It was later explained that she only wanted to prevent Madoka becoming a magical girl. She saved Madoka and Sayaka multiple times and may become an ally and/or mentor of Madoka in the future.

She might also wish to prevent Madoka becoming a magical girl because of the risk that she could turn into an overwhelmingly powerful witch.

In Episode 5, Homura saves Sayaka from Kyoko by suddenly manifesting as Kyoko's attack is about to land, somehow moving Sayaka out of the path of the attack. The ability seems to involve massive acceleration rather than teleportation(this because of her power being to turn back/stop time and thus being able to move quickly from one point to another by stopping time temporarily), as she is able to act in a split second. As there are hints that a Puella Magi's powers may relate to her wish (e.g. Sayaka's regeneration), this may be a clue as to Homura's true motives. As of Episode 8 it has been confirmed that Homura's ability has something to do with time.

Theory proven right: her power is stopping time and wish is time-related.)

The theories below have been proven wrong.They are only kept here for the sake of completeness.

Homura's wish was to protect Madoka, and since wishes always come true, it should make her immune from death and becoming a witch before saving Madoka. This makes her doomed to be locked in this cycle. In one timeline she was almost successful, but Madoka sacrificed herself for the sake of Homura and caused another restart.

Theory proven wrong: Homura controls when and if she rewinds time, so long as one month as passed since the last reset.)

Per the image in the gallery below, the pipe layout on the corridor wall is completely different after Homura uses her 'teleportation' ability. Assuming this is not a production error, it has been suggested that the ability actually involves magically reconstituting the entire corridor while moving the people in it around. For more information, please refer to the entry on this phenomenon in the Magical Powers speculah.

Theory proven wrong: her power has nothing to do with that, it was a production error.

Homura might be in possession of the soul gems of magical girls from an alternate timeline, such as the alternate Madoka's. See also Speculah:Homura Identity Swap Theory (though note the identity swap theory has been debunked).

One of the speculations as for why Homura does not tell Madoka upfront of the consequences of becoming a magical girl, is because Madoka might just become one in order to save Homura or Mami. This could also be the reason why she's trying to keep a distance between her and Madoka.

Theory proven wrong: she was doing it to stop Madoka per her promise.

The theories below have not been proven yet.Please keep in mind that they are fanmade theories, and not official material.

Homura may actually be Faust, as Faust in the play tries all his might to save Gretchen (Madoka) from dying but in the end she perishes anyways as Mephistopheles (QB) tries to tempt her to form a contract with him.

There's also the fact that in the Goethe version, Faust would only lose his soul if he ever had a moment of perfect happiness that made him wish he could stop time at that moment forever. Homura's power, of course, is to stop time. As such, it's entirely possible that the Homura and Faust parallels will be taken to its logical conclusion: She will have a moment of perfect happiness, she will stop time at that moment, and then she will die or become a witch. However, it should be mentioned that Faust manages to escape Mephistopheles and enter heaven because he found his moment of happiness in helping others, and not in anything Mephistopheles gave him. On the other hand, there is a witch that tries to create heaven on Earth.

Homura shows some very different powers in episode 12. While this may be a by-product of the new world, it is also possible she always had these powers and simply did not use them in favor of her less magic-consuming time-stopping.

Given the fact that she no longer has her shield on her wrist, it is most likely that her powers have changed altogether.

Her shield was shown to be completely out of sand during the fight with Walpurgis Night. As we know, the only way for her to get more sand again is to reset the timeline (flip the hourglass). Since the timeline wasn't actually reset by her, even in new timeline, her shield would still be completely out of sand, and therefore, useless as anything but a hunk of steel on her arm. It makes sense she wouldn't use it anymore, then.

Considering her wish was to protect Madoka, one could believe her shield shows her resolve to protect. Its turning to sand in the Walpurgis Night fight represents her inability (and indeed, her failure) to protect Madoka. When she flips the hourglass, gaining more sand represents the fact she can protect Madoka again. Her not having it in the new timeline shows that she doesn't need to protect anyone anymore.

As for the source of her new powers, speculations abound; lead amongst them is that she got Madoka's bow from her at the same time that Madoka fixed her Soul Gem and gave her her ribbon. Another theory is that since her wish was to "protect Madoka," and Madoka is now a concept rather than a person, her powers were altered into something similar to what Madoka uses. Yet another theory is that with the universe restarted, Homura made a different wish, and so got different powers. Yet another theory is that Homura was always able to produce a bow; after all, her original concept artwork depicted her with that weapon. She just hadn't figured out how, or alternatively, just hadn't bothered, since stopping time is more efficient.

My (slightly poorly-founded) theory is that her wish was to know what Madoka was (which explains why she can suddenly tell Kyubey everything) - if that's true, her having a bow represents her bond with the concept of Madoka. Kind of similar to your point.

Homura may be Walpurgis Night. As Homura's powers involved time manipulation it could very well be that we are seeing a witch version of Homura warped back into the past ironically becoming the very event that has shaped her reason for making a contract. Walpurgis Night has been depicted with clock-like gears underneath her dress. Episode 11 also depicts Walpurgis Night having a primary color of purple, which is also Homura's color. While the end of the series shows Homura losing her shield, after the credits we are shown Homura during an unknown time period, though having Madoka's ribbons, battling. Before Homura starts the fight, she hears Madoka offer words of encouragement as Homura gives up a final smile, which may signal Homura being consumed with despair. The final shot shows the main heroines, overlapped with multiple silhouettes of the heroines, which could allude to the familiars summoned by Walpurgis Night in episode 11, before showing Homura's soul gem.

Different Universes

There are some bizarre elements that haven't been properly addressed in the anime series. In one case is the issue that the production notes state that in one timeline Kyousuke was a guitarist. It was never addressed in the Anime but in the alternate-Oktavia's witch card does mention a guitar, and we have no reason to assume it refers to anyone but Kyousuke. On this reason Kyousuke as a guitarist is considered to be canon. One possible explanation for this is that Homura is not only going back in time but also going to parallel universes (different universes) contained within the multiverse.

There are ways to explain the change in instrument using only time travel. Perhaps someone made a wish that changed Kyousuke's past, and the effects persisted in future timelines because the wish changed events that happened before the point where the timelines diverged, when Homura woke up in the hospital. Kyousuke might be proficient with both instruments, and some event during the time loop period might inspire him to prefer one over the other. However, these speculations are based on guesswork, since the show's creators have not yet provided details.

Homura is able to move extremely fast in comparison with water drops.

Homura's grenade in Episode 8 looks like an M61 grenade, used during the Vietnam War.

Homura first appears in Chapter 3. When Mami warns her about the magical girl murders, Homura seems not to care, but warns Mami not to get close to her, Madoka, Hitomi and Sayaka.

In chapter 4, she appears for one page with her friends, going out for sweets. She defers to Madoka's taste and doesn't care where they go. She protected Madoka well to this point, keeping the knowledge of magical girls far away from her and Sayaka.

In chapters 5-7, as Mitakihara Junior High is covered with a witch's barrier, Homura does her best to protect Madoka from the familiars. After Madoka told her not to sacrifice others to protect her, however, Homura decided to find Oriko and Kirika and defeat them. Oriko reveals that she knows about the end of the world caused by Kriemheld Gretchen, Madoka's witch form, and that she plans to kill Madoka before she can contract and cause that to happen. Homura fights together with Mami, Kyoko and Yuma, coming close to losing when two of the other three fall into despair after seeing Kirika become a witch. They manage to pull themselves together and defeat her, and Homura kills Oriko. But since Oriko also killed Madoka by using the last of her power to shoot a piece of Kirika's witch body through Madoka's torso, Homura can do nothing but reset the timeline.

Early production sketch of Homura. Note that her surname is shown here as (暁海) instead of (暁美). Both are read as Akemi.

Screenshots

Homura as a regular girl

Homura glances back.

Homura wore a poker face.

Homura is a genius.

The negotiation broke down.

Homura ripping her hair.

Homura being wrapped in ribbon.

Homura gives Madoka a hug.

Homura tied up on the wheel of time.

Homura in Episode 10 from Timeline 1.

Homura naked.

Homura as a Puella Magi

Homura first appearence.

Homura's transformation sequence.

Homura's entrance with style.

Homura as a Puella Magi.

Homura climbs on the truck.

Homura Vs Walpurgis Night.

Homura using bow and arrow.

Homura using bow and arrow.

Homura is wrapped in ribbon.

Homura's ring and fingernail.

Homura's Soul Gem.

Fanart

This section contains fanart images

Everything in the following fan gallery is created, or the comments accompanying them are created, for entertainment value and should not be confused with actual canon events of the Puella Magi franchise.

Homura pixel mugen.gif

Hommando sketches fanart.jpg

Hommando: One Woman Army.

Homura, one man army.jpg

Can one little girl really take down Walpurgis Night?

A heavy reinterpretation and editing of Episode 10 observed through the eyes of Homura

Magical weapons are for little girls

Homura crazy.jpg

An accurate depiction of Homura's obsession with Madoka

Homura witch pantsu.jpg

Homura God of War.jpg

According with Fans if Madoka is a Goddess/concept of Hope, then Homura is the God of War.